3. Therefore (thus) saith the
Apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles, the vessel of election,
“But I say unto the unmarried and the widows, that it is good for
them, if they shall have so continued, even as I also.”22222222τοῖς,
ταῖς: 1 Cor. vii. 8 These
words are to be so understood, as that we think not that widows
ought not to be called unmarried, in that they seem to have made
trial of marriage: for by the name of unmarried women he means
those, who are not now bound by marriage, whether they have been,
or whether they have not been so. And this in another place he
opens, where he says, “Divided is a woman unmarried and a
virgin.”22232223ἡ γυνὴ καὶ
ἡ παρθένος Assuredly
when he adds a virgin also, what would he have understood by an
unmarried woman, but a widow? Whence also, in what follows, under
the one term “unmarried” he embraces both professions, saying,
“She who is unmarried is careful of the things of the Lord, how
to please the Lord: but she who is married is careful of the things
of the world, how to please her husband.”222422241 Cor. vii. 34 Certainly by the unmarried he
would have understood, not only her who hath never married, but her
also, who, being by widowhood set free from the bond of marriage,
hath ceased to be married; for on this account also he calleth not
married, save her, who hath an husband; not her also, who hath had,
and hath not. Wherefore every widow is unmarried; but, because not
every unmarried woman is a widow, for there are virgins also;
therefore he hath here set both, where he says, “But I say unto
the unmarried and the widows;” as if he should say, What I say
unto the unmarried, I say not unto them alone, who are virgins, but
unto them also who are widows; “that it is good for them, if they
shall have so continued, even as also I.”222522251 Cor. vii. 8